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Sequim youth's pop tabs effort tops 200 pounds

Sequim's Sam Manders, second from left, brings in more than 350,000 pop tabs to the Ronald McDonald House in Portland, Ore., with some help from executive director Tom Soma, left, and communications manager Chad Greenwood. Submitted photo

Eight years and still going strong.

Sam Manders of Sequim is a familiar contributor to the Ronald McDonald House through the charity's Tab Top Program. In his eighth year, Manders collected 209.9 pounds or 355,990 individual tabs.

At the Ronald McDonald House, workers assist families with housing while their children are being treated for illness at one of three hospitals in Portland, Ore.

The house is adjacent to the Doernbecher Children?s Hospital, Oregon Health and Sciences University and the Shriners Hospital. Many families and patients who are eligible for outpatient status are able to save a bundle of money by living at the house.

The house has televisions, computers, board games and books for youths, plus laundry facilities and a huge kitchen with volunteers helping each week to prepare dinners for weary families.

Manders, 15, started collecting the tab tops in 2005. His first collection brought in 1,581 pop tops. By 2008, his collection totaled 50 pounds worth of tab tops. Last year he collected nearly 440,000 tab tops.

Since the Seattle McDonald's doesn't have a tab top program, Manders and mom Kathrin Sumpter travel to the Ronald McDonald House in Portland.

Sumpter notes that Manders got plenty of help this year, as people also donated cash that went for paper products for the house.

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